116: Chapter 116 Emerging from the Cave

From the moment she stepped into the Ancient Grotto-Heaven, Lu Shuang had parted ways with the others.

She remained as she always was, only responsible for doing what was within her duties, and she simply couldn't be bothered with anything that didn't concern her.

Lu Shuang cultivated the path of formations and talismans. Before entering, she had already activated an enhancement formation, pushing the state of those few Guiliu Society members to their peak.

Beyond that, there was nothing else for her to do.

After separating from those people, Lu Shuang had been exploring the Ancient Grotto-Heaven on her own. Then, she encountered Li Xiuyuan.

The White Flood Dragon, coiled above the spiritual spring eye, gazed across the air at Lu Shuang.

The latter instantly became tense to the point of extremity.

The pressure brought by Li Xiuyuan was something she could never contend with, not to mention that this White Flood Dragon's fierce reputation was widespread, and his strength, which was unfathomable, had long ceased to be a secret.

The moment Li Xiuyuan saw Lu Shuang, he understood that people from the Guiliu Society had entered.

He spread out his restrained Spiritual Sense once more and immediately saw the battle situation between Gu Xiao and Lu Xingyun.

He had originally intended to casually finish off the woman before him before going to help, but immediately after, he discovered that it seemed unnecessary for him to intervene over there; Gu Xiao, relying on his own strength alone, had already beaten the strongest combatant among the invaders to the brink of death.

Since that was the case, he might as well finish off the woman before him as well, to have complete peace.

Just as Li Xiuyuan was preparing to act,

Inside the Ancient Grotto-Heaven, a violent tremor suddenly erupted.

'BOOM!'

The ground shook violently, and even the spiritual energy inside the Ancient Grotto-Heaven became exceptionally manic, like boiling water surging.

Lu Shuang's expression changed, and she looked up: "I knew I couldn't trust that fox demon!"

At the same time,

Gu Xiao and Lu Xingyun, who were still fighting in the distance, were also disturbed by this commotion.

The Blue-haired Non-mainstream Youth was bruised and swollen. Although he had lime powder on him to heal his wounds, it was very slow. Gu Xiao's punches were solid, hitting flesh, nearly shattering all the bones in his body.

"Not good, run!"

The Blue-haired Non-mainstream Youth couldn't even speak clearly, but he knew where the commotion in the Ancient Grotto-Heaven was coming from.

The few Guiliu Society members turned around, about to flee, but how would Gu Xiao and Lu Xingyun give them a chance to escape?

The two of them coordinated with great tacit understanding. Lu Xingyun's fingers sketched rapidly in the air, forming talisman patterns one after another. Several fire snakes darted out from the patterns, slithering along the ground and sealing off the path for the Guiliu Society members.

The Guiliu Society member running at the very front had his ankles entangled by a fire snake, and his entire body was flipped onto the ground. Flames immediately roared to life on his body, and he rolled on the ground, screaming.

The other fire snakes, covered with the might of thunder on their surfaces, lunged forward. The remaining few tried to dodge, but Gu Xiao had already caught up, coordinating with the fire snakes to surround them completely, venting his anger in a sea of fire like a madman.

Soon, all of them were swallowed by the sea of fire, leaving only the Blue-haired Non-mainstream Youth. However, Gu Xiao still retained a sliver of reason and did not kill this person.

After all, the Jiantian Bureau had regulations; when encountering such situations, one must leave one or two living captives unless absolutely necessary.

Lu Xingyun ran over, panting heavily. Seeing that Gu Xiao did not continue to deal a lethal blow, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

He arrived beside the Blue-haired Non-mainstream Youth lying on the ground and kicked the person in the stomach.

This kick wasn't too heavy, but it still made the person curl up in pain and groan.

"Renaissance, huh?"

"A Shamate, are you?"

Lu Xingyun took an apple-peeling knife out of his pocket and cut off the person's slanted bangs entirely. Just a moment ago, he had been hunted and intercepted by those Guiliu Society members, nearly losing his life several times. If not for his rich combat experience, he might have lost his life here.

"Speak! What is your surname and name?"

After cutting off that tuft of blue hair, Lu Xingyun grabbed the person's hair and demanded an answer.

The Blue-haired Non-mainstream Youth had been injured twice in succession, and his speech was reduced to mere gasps: "Wang Zhan."

"Wang what?" Lu Xingyun frowned, not hearing clearly.

Wang Zhan's expression was pained: "Forget about my name for now, quickly, run, the entrance to this Ancient Grotto-Heaven is about to collapse."

"What did you say? The entrance is about to collapse? Why?"

Lu Xingyun heard him clearly this time, but his expression also changed instantly.

Wang Zhan said weakly: "I can't explain it in a moment, run quickly."

As soon as he finished speaking,

A thunderclap suddenly rang out in the sky,

Crack!

After the thunderclap, the cyan dome seemed to be torn apart by an invisible giant hand. Countless bolts of lightning struck out from the cracks, the blue-white light illuminating the entire Ancient Grotto-Heaven.

Those lightning bolts twisted crazily in the air like venomous snakes, and at the end of each bolt of light, one could vaguely see blurred outlines. Looking closely, they were actually the forms of various Rising Beingss.

Immediately after, screams came from within those cracks.

Lu Xingyun's face was turned deathly pale by the overwhelming lightning: "What is this thing?"

"Life and Death Great Sacrifice Array!"

Wang Zhan lay on the ground, covered in wounds, and shouted with all his might: "It's the Life and Death Great Sacrifice Array! It's the formation that makes the entrance to this Ancient Grotto-Heaven collapse! I already told you to run quickly!"

Accompanied by Wang Zhan's words, the entrance to the Ancient Grotto-Heaven began to shake incessantly. The cyan-gray light mass began to flicker violently, and black cracks appeared in circles around the edge, shrinking from the original several zhang in width to less than one zhang, and it was accelerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It took less than two seconds for the entrance to close completely.

And Wang Zhan, perhaps because his emotions were too agitated, closed his eyes after shouting that sentence, his body twitched, and he went still.

Li Xiuyuan also swam over from the direction of the spiritual spring eye at this moment, white mist wrapping his body, his speed extremely fast, with Lu Shuang following behind him.

Just now, Li Xiuyuan had not killed Lu Shuang because Lu Shuang had promptly explained the situation to him and also voluntarily proposed to make a deal; she could find a way to help Li Xiuyuan open a new entrance, but Li Xiuyuan had to spare her.

Li Xiuyuan pondered for a moment and then agreed.

However, they definitely couldn't stay in this Ancient Grotto-Heaven any longer; after all, no one knew if it would collapse further.

After finding the two of them, Li Xiuyuan explained the situation and then asked Lu Shuang directly: "What should we do next?"

"Before entering, I left a Heaven-Derivation Alternating Array outside, which can open a passage to leave."

As Lu Shuang spoke, her fingers quickly formed seals, and she took out several talismans, throwing them into mid-air.

The talismans ignited without fire, and the golden firelight intertwined in the air, outlining a complex formation diagram.

The formation diagram rotated slowly, gradually transforming into a passage.

Immediately after, Lu Shuang's face turned deathly pale at a speed visible to the naked eye. The spiritual energy in her body was being drained at an alarming rate.

"Not good, this Ancient Grotto-Heaven and the formation I set up are not in the same heaven and earth; the rate at which the formation consumes spiritual energy is too fast!"

Lu Shuang gritted her teeth, her voice trembling.

Seeing this, Gu Xiao and Lu Xingyun immediately rushed forward, pressing their palms against the edge of the formation diagram. As the two of them poured their spiritual energy into the diagram, the formation passage barely stabilized for a moment.

Then, Lu Xingyun exclaimed: "Is this a blood-sucking pump? My spiritual energy is about to be drained!"

Even with the help of the two, the formation passage still failed to fully open, and the spiritual energy in both their bodies was being rapidly drained.

Just as the formation passage lost its infusion of spiritual energy and was about to close, a surge of abundant spiritual energy suddenly appeared, and the formation passage expanded from the size of a water vat to that of a doorway.

"Go."

Li Xiuyuan said.

The source of this abundant spiritual energy was none other than this White Flood Dragon.

After the passage stabilized,

Gu Xiao and Lu Xingyun rushed in one after the other. Before Lu Shuang went in, she even turned back to tell Li Xiuyuan to follow quickly.

Li Xiuyuan, walking last, waited until all three had entered the passage before tightening his body and squeezing through the doorway-like passage.

...

At this moment,

On the riverbank where the two waters met,

The staff of the Jiantian Bureau were working methodically.

Suddenly, someone discovered that the entrance to the Ancient Grotto-Heaven on the water's surface was flickering violently and eerily.

On those detection instruments, the spiritual energy values of the Ancient Grotto-Heaven entrance were jumping wildly, flying up and down, completely losing all regularity.

"Alarm! Alarm! An anomaly has occurred at the entrance of the Ancient Grotto-Heaven; the entrance is being forcibly closed by a force!" The communicator's voice exploded in the channel.

The person in charge of this operation had an extremely grave expression, staring fixedly at the screen. The values on the instrument representing the Ancient Grotto-Heaven entrance soared to their peak one moment and plummeted to the bottom the next, completely out of control.

"Is there any way to prop up the entrance?"

"We can't hold it, that force is too strong!"

At this moment,

The technician's voice came over the walkie-talkie again: "Captain, there is also movement under the river water; a very large number of life signs are disappearing collectively."

This turn of events was unexpected by everyone,

And because no one knew what force was forcibly closing the entrance to the Ancient Grotto-Heaven, they could only watch helplessly from the side.

Above the river, the space actually fluctuated once more!

A crack tore open out of thin air, and three figures rushed out one after another from within,

Immediately after, Li Xiuyuan's massive silver-white body followed closely behind, barely squeezing out.

On the river surface, only surging waves and the gradually dissipating cyan light remained.

The three people, having exhausted their spiritual energy, fell into the water and were quickly rescued.

Although Li Xiuyuan had also consumed quite a bit of spiritual energy, the impact was not particularly significant.

The three rescued individuals were all sent to the temporary infirmary,

Li Xiuyuan, however, did not need to go. He followed the river, trying to find the fox demon that was outside.

Lu Shuang was quite honest; to survive, she confessed everything, not only telling the plans of the Guiliu Society but also revealing the matter of the fox demon outside.

Li Xiuyuan quickly found that fox demon and, with an almost crushing, overbearing posture, took away the other party's life.

...

...

The exploration of the fifth Ancient Grotto-Heaven ended rather unsuccessfully.

There must still be many secrets hidden in this Ancient Grotto-Heaven, such as what method was used inside to make time stand still, and what was Lord River God's intention in doing so? In Li Xiuyuan's view, this Ancient Grotto-Heaven, which had no dangers, was actually the one that should be investigated carefully.

He later went to find Lu Shuang again, wanting to ask if she could reactivate the formation passage and return to the Ancient Grotto-Heaven.

If it only required injecting spiritual energy, that would not be a problem for Li Xiuyuan.

Lu Shuang's answer greatly disappointed Li Xiuyuan; that formation passage was a one-time use, and it was gone once used.

In other words, this fifth Ancient Grotto-Heaven might never be entered again.

In the end,

Li Xiuyuan had to helplessly choose to accept the facts.

On this trip to the Ancient Grotto-Heaven, he had only absorbed one spiritual spring eye, with very little harvest.

However, this could not change Li Xiuyuan's plan. After the fifth Ancient Grotto-Heaven, he had to start his river journey and could not continue to delay.

Before starting the river journey, Li Xiuyuan returned to Yunfeng Mountain and wandered through the water territories he controlled once more, absorbing all the spiritual energy that could be absorbed in every stretch of water, while also instructing Qing'er to find Jingxin and make preparations in that cave at Phoenix Mountain.

Everything was ready,

Li Xiuyuan traveled alone along the river, heading upstream all the way.

The river water shimmered with dark gold in the twilight, the mountains on both banks were layered, and the reeds swayed gently in the evening breeze.

Passing by Jiangcheng, cargo ships sailed slowly on the river, the lights on the bows like fireflies in the twilight. He arrived at Xiling Gorge again; the cliffs were like they had been carved by knives and axes in the night, the river water roared in the canyon, and the torrents slapped against the reefs, splashing waves several meters high.

Passing the Three Gorges, the river surface gradually narrowed, the mountains on both banks became more precipitous, and the river water became more turbulent, yet the source was nowhere to be seen.

The source of the Yangtze River was on that glacier on the plateau.

This golden waterway, with a total length of over six thousand kilometers, was winding and tortuous. Along the way, Li Xiuyuan also discovered several surging undercurrents beneath the water. The map of the thousand-mile river journey provided by the Li family earlier had marked many undercurrents,

At that time, Li Xiuyuan had only used the map of the thousand-mile river journey to simulate; only when he truly and personally ventured into the river water did he know just how dangerous these undercurrents really were.

Until entering that plateau, the altitude became higher and higher, but the spiritual energy became more and more abundant. These high-altitude areas were not very suitable for human survival, but in the present day of spiritual energy recovery, this place had become a paradise for practitioners.

Arriving deep in the plateau,

Li Xiuyuan had already left the water surface. He traveled wrapped in Mirage Qi, blending into the thick fog on the high mountains, and entered a snow-capped mountain.

The snow-capped mountain was extremely high, its peak hidden in the clouds, and at the foot of the mountain was a glacier.

Before the recovery of spiritual energy, the melting speed of these glaciers was increasing day by day, but after the recovery of spiritual energy, the melting speed of the glaciers had become slower and slower.

The white mist had dissipated in the cold wind. Li Xiuyuan stared at a long, narrow stream; this was the initial source of the Yangtze River. The long, narrow stream could span the entire Xia Kingdom and turn into a golden waterway.

The wind scraped across his body, snow fell on his scales, and as the sunlight fell, the silver-white scales shimmered with a cold light in the snow.

Li Xiuyuan did not rush to act but instead tried to communicate with this snow-capped mountain that had stood on this land for tens of millions of years, but he could not get any response.

Why was there no response?

Li Xiuyuan felt puzzled in his heart.

Even Yunfeng Mountain could give birth to a mountain spirit; this snow-capped mountain, not to mention directly resonating with him, should at least have had some reaction.

But no matter how he called out, the snow-capped mountain remained silent, like an eternal tomb.

Temporarily setting aside these doubts, Li Xiuyuan took out the map of the thousand-mile river journey hidden under his scales. He drove the white energy inside for the last time, walked through the entire journey, looked at all the undercurrents inside clearly and carefully, and finally, put away the scroll.